Matchett takes title; WBU women 2nd, men 6th

By KEVIN LEWIS Wayland Baptist University

Published 8:20 am, Wednesday, March 27, 2013

PRIMM VALLEY, Nev. - Morgan Matchett captured the individual title while helping the Wayland Baptist women’s golf team to a second-place finish as the Battle of Primm concluded here Tuesday. The WBU men came away in sixth place.

After opening with a brilliant 4-under-par 68 on Monday, Matchett finished on Tuesday with a 74 for a 142 total. That was four strokes better than the second-place finisher, Megan Woodland of Victoria, British Columbia.

“Morgan had a fantastic tournament,” WBU coach Jim Giacomazzi said of the junior from New Brunswick, Canada. “She was the only person in red figures.”

It was the first individual title for a WBU women’s golfer in two years, since Ayne Magombe won the Bluebonnet Classic. Before this week, only three other golfers had won tournaments for the Pioneer women: Magombe, current Pioneer Nathalia Valencia and All-American Charlotte Guilleux.

Giacomazzi said The Lake Course at the Primm Valley Golf Resort “must be made for her” as Matchett posted the low score for Wayland two straight years here.

After missing just one green Monday when she matched the lowest round ever by a WBU female with her 68, Matchett missed only two greens on Tuesday. She ended the tournament by making a 15-foot putt to birdie the par-5 18th.

“It trickled over the edge,” Giacomazzi said.

As a team, the 11th-ranked WBU women - after shooting a program record 301 on Monday to lead by four shots - turned in a 318 on Tuesday for a 619 total. That ended one shot behind Cal-State San Marcos, which followed a 308 with a 310 for a 618.

“It was a tough day,” said Giacomazzi, explaining that the winds picked up for the second day, gusting to 30 mph. “It was a two-club breeze.” That, combined with the course’s severely undulated greens, made it tough.

“Every team shot worse (Tuesday), but several that were behind us came in with scores that were a little bit better than ours,” Giacomazzi said.

While disappointed they didn’t hold on to win the crown, Giacomazzi said his team fared much better this tournament than last when the Pioneers fell from a tie for first after the first day to fifth.

“For us to pick it up a notch in that regard is good,” he said. “We were able to beat several teams ranked higher than us,” including British Columbia University, which is ranked No. 1 by golfstat.com.

The coach said the Pioneers need to sharpen their mental game in respect to three-putts. He said as a team Wayland had 20 three-putts on Tuesday.

“If each person can lower those to two or three a round, we can eliminate 10 strokes,” he said. “If w do that, we run away with the tournament. We had some mental breakdowns.”

“I’m disappointed in a couple of those scores,” Giacomazzi said. “We have to figure out how to get those two players consistently playing better from one day to the next. It’s something the coaching staff needs to work at, creating opportunities for them to work on their consistency and mental aspect of the game.”

Still, Giacomazzi hopes the second-place finish will be enough to boost Wayland into the top 10 in the NAIA poll.

“It might be good enough to get us up there,” he said.

The team gets a bit of a break from competition before the Sooner Athletic Conference Championship in Oklahoma City on April 14. A month later is the NAIA National Championship in Lincoln, Neb.

“We’re looking forward to a little break. The girls have been hammered on the road. Several of them are sick,” Giacomazzi said. “We’re playing fairly well, but we need to practice on the mental side of the game.”

For the men, most scores also rose on Tuesday. Wayland, after rounds of 281 on Monday morning and 290 on Monday afternoon, shot a 301 on Tuesday for an 872 total. Grand View won it with an 848, followed by Cal-State San Marcos at 854, Johnson & Wales (Fla.) at 860, Oklahoma City University at 862 and the Master’s (Calif.) at 865. Seventeen teams were entered.

“The guys struggled, but we beat Bellevue by one,” WBU coach Tom Harp said. “The course played much more difficult. It was very windy.”

Tristan Cottrell shot the low round of the day for the Pioneers and his low collegiate round, an even-par 72, on The Desert course, That followed Monday’s pair of 74s for a 220 total, tying him for 27th place.

“Tristan played very well,” Harp said.

Darryn Els tied for ninth place in the 90-player field and had the low finish for Wayland with his 66-73-76—215. Anders Ellingsberg tied for 20th (71-70-77—218), Ian Ansett tied for 39th (70-77-76—223) and Ryan Connolly tied for 61st (76-73-79—228.)

The Pioneers next play at the Dr. Troy Bledsoe Classic on April 9 and 10 in Palm Springs, Calif., leading up to the conference and national championships.